


First Contact

by Anonymous



Category: Star Control (Video Games)
Genre: Alien/Human Relationships, Dax is female here, Eventual Smut, It's in the second chapter and isn't actually relevant to any of the greater story, M/M, Mentions of genocide, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, Xenophobia, Zex and captain have two very different views on their relationship, but mention of her is brief, finally edited and reposted, this is an au I might expand upon later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:27:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25675831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Date a vux in a seedy space bar, far from the centers of known space’s civilizations, in a smoky, dark establishment where you are the only two representatives of your species. pretend that it’s first contact all over again, look at each other with eye(s) not embittered by misery, listen to the silence of millions of your countrymen’s opinions not being aired. And then, maybe, have another kind of first contact.(Or an au where the captain and admiral meet and make "first contact" under a very different set of circumstances.)
Relationships: Captain/ZEX (Star Control)
Kudos: 4
Collections: Anonymous





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> From a tumblr prompt I wanted to write. So sorry it's taken me so long to write it.

Dax hadn’t wanted to go out here. They had plenty of alcohol back home she had said, and really, did a decorated Admiral such as himself need to be hanging around such a seedy bar? Zex had scoffed at her, unamused, as he always was by his second officer's attempts to reign him in. 

Now the two of them were seated at the bar, being served by the bartender, another uumgah. “Admiral, I don’t see why we couldn’t have gone anywhere else!” She was withdrawn, careful not to touch even the bar table. 

When they had entered the establishment, she made it a point to avoid contact with others- uumgah, mostly. Their many eyes and snoutless face holes- traits Zex found endearing, repulsed her, as they would many vux. Not Zex, of course. To him, it was all very fascinating. That was in part why he was here. 

“Ah, Dax,” He replied. “You just don’t understand the world full of opportunities we have here.”

She licked her drink. “You could get in so much trouble if our superiors knew about this.”

“I’m aware.” She was always telling him this, as though she really thought that she could convince him to stop. 

As annoying as it may be, it was almost honorable that she would always try, no matter how many times Zex persisted. She was always persistent in it. Not only was she the best science officer a man could ask for, but she was also a most loyal friend. 

“And it’s really concerning that you do this anyways.”

But that didn't mean that she wouldn't get on his nerves. 

“It’s not like I’m doing anything wrong, Dax.” He retorted.

“I never said that… I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong, but they would- they will!”

She gripped her drink tightly, sending him a simultaneously enraged and hopelessly concerned look. 

It was true. He had heard many horror stories of the kind of punishment they dulled out to whatever VUX dared to break this particular taboo. For himself, it was at the very least a death sentence, if they were feeling generous. They would quietly execute him and excuse or cover it up. Anything to avoid tarnishing the name of their war hero, no doubt creating a martyr in the process, making the already violent upheaval on their planet worse. They were cowards.

“Then they are wrong.” With that, he consumed the rest of his drink, which was a mistake. It was salty, and a small fire burnt in his stomach as he felt his proboscis forcefully clench. Not at all pleasant. He got up. This was the part where he ditches her.

The night was still young, and he had plenty to do here. She didn’t try to stop him when he walked away from the bar and right up to a lone Supox. 

They quickly struck up conversation, both being aliens in a bar, far from home. They were very charming, he found. Talking to them was soothing.

“No, I cannot drink what they serve here. I come here for the atmosphere. It’s something different from home."

“I know what you mean.”

There was some kind of music playing, he realized. Dim and barely audible, but there nonetheless. It was odd. Nothing about it was recognizable to him, except for.... There was speaking, language. None of it translated with all of the interference in the bar, but it was familiar. He had to have heard it once, somewhere. 

Then he caught sight of him.

Right behind his conversation companion, he saw a figure. Standing upright in a corner, looking down, and nursing a drink between their two fur-less hands. Even in the dim lighting he could see that they were not blue, but in fact a warmer brown. It couldn’t be… And yet it clearly was. A human. The very same ones who failed to defeat the ur-quan and save the planets of his people’s alliance, never mind his own planet. Their allies had been given the choice between becoming battle thralls or being placed under a slave shield like so many others like them. The humans had not been so lucky, as  _ they _ had re-sparked the rebellion. Earth had been destroyed, as Zex had heard. He couldn't personally bear to watch it broadcast as it was. An entire people was gone, just like that. No human was left in the galaxy. 

Though there was at least one human left, as hard as it was to truly believe. 

“Excuse me.” He said

Please don't be a trick of the light. 

The suppox simply hummed, not at all offended. "You know where to find me."

ZEX walked up to the human. 

“Do you want something?” The human squinted up at him. 

“Captain!” ZEX hadn't recognized him at first, his black fur had grown enough to cover his previously fur-less face, and he wasn't wearing his uniform, but was instead dressed in a gold and blue robe. Syreen clothing. It looked wonderful on him. 

“Admiral,” he scrunched up his face in what Zex presumed to be an uncomfortable manner- perhaps to display discomfort? “I was hoping you wouldn't recognize me.” 

Zex leaned in, finding himself quiet and conspiratory as he asked him. “What are you doing here, my lovely human friend?”

He smiles awkwardly. “I don't want to talk about it, if I'm being honest.” 

His words were understandable enough, though they shook with the interference, sounding garbled, and a little hissed. 

That was when he realized that the music playing was human music… Nothing syreen sounded quite like that. Though, Zex pondered to himself, this was his first time hearing anything of human language at all, and it was entirely mangled by his malfunctioning translator; which was due to the music. 

“Talana convinced them to play it for me.” the captain answered, as if he knew exactly what Zex was thinking, slightly baring his teeth in a way that Zex had once learned was meant to be read as playful or to indicate happiness in humans. 

It certainly made Zex himself happy, recalling that detail, knowing that the human was in some way happy and not entirely broken despite the circumstances. 

He barely knew the captain, but he already found himself quite fond of him. He knew him to be somewhat young, but he seemed to have been rather successful in his position despite that disadvantage and respected by his subordinates. On top of that, he was quite charming himself, almost charismatic. Conversation with the young human had always been pleasant in the past. The human captain was eager to ask questions, and Zex was all too happy to answer them. They had once gone back and forth for hours before a subordinate of his reminded him that he was keeping the captain from doing the favor he had asked of him. 

Perhaps the two of them could set aside their differences and cultural boundaries once again to resume their budding friendship...

Zex would very much like to know him better as well. Their last meeting hadn't gone well, what with Zex having fired at the captain after having told him that he'd have made a fine addition to his menagerie (words he would later come to regret), and then the beast he had seeked from said captain had escaped from confinement. It was lucky that he and his science officer and a few of the other staff had managed to make it out alive. Though the human captain and his crew were gone by the time the situation had been sorted out. 

Zex never had the chance to properly apologize or make amends until now. He really did regret that it had ever came to that between them. 

“Ah, I see…” Zex replied, feeling an awkwardness now hang over the two of them. 

“So…" The human turned away, averting his gaze to the floor. "Do Vux dance?”

Zex was so pleasantly surprised, he grabs the human by the waist and pulls him in close before he can remember his manners. He feels and hears the human make a sharp inhale. 

"I'm sorry-" He lets go. "I am just excited at the prospect of dancing with a human, captain!" 

The captain exhales harshly a few times, laughing. He grabs a tentacle into his hand. It's warm. The sensation of it is different,  _ new _ . 

"I'm not a captain anymore, call me Cain."

* * *

The two danced together for what felt like hours, the human laughing more as he tried and failed to dance like Zex was showing him. 

"I'm not flexible enough for this- my arms aren't noodles!" The human stretched and tried to follow his own movements, unable to exactly duplicate it. Try as he might, his limbs were simply too stiff. 

The effort he put into it was admirable though, and the attempts itself? Absolutely adorable. It was endearing how the otherwise composed human turned out to be so nervous and clumsy on the dance floor. 

Or perhaps clumsiness was a human trait? This was the first time he was seeing one so up close and personal, even going so far as touching one… the contact was absolutely exquisite, as limited as it was. Oh how he would like to explore further… But he was afraid that even asking out here was far from appropriate. 

"Noodles?" Zex grabs him close once again, wrapping his arms around him, just between the two of them and a few strangers. 

"They're like- they're…all malleable and..." Cain struggled to explain himself for a moment. "-and you're messing with me again, aren't you?"

"I've never heard my limbs described as noodles before. Is that perhaps a human idiom?"

He bares his teeth again, mouth stretched wider than before. Happier?

"I've missed these conversations, admiral."

* * *

The bar was loud and thriving at this point, hitting an hour of buzzing activity. They end up sitting at the bar together now, stuck here by the ever growing crowding of the bar. The bar had been so quiet before, with only the sounds of soft music and idle chatter to color the atmosphere- the bar was most definitely a different beast now. 

This didn't dampen their fun, it only seemed to enhance it, in fact. They spoke to each other excitedly, nearly seamlessly picking up where they left off. A time that had seemed so long ago now.

"So… What brings  _ you _ here?" Cain takes a sip of his drink, another terrifyingly beautiful smile at the edge of his lips. White teeth visible. 

Zex found himself looking at his teeth a lot now as more alcohol entered his own system. Wondering how they might feel grazing his skin, biting into it; drawing blood that the human could lap up with his fascinating tongue. He almost ignores the human entirely in his fantasizing. 

But he gathers himself as the human leans in so they are shoulder to shoulder, perhaps trying to prompt him to answer? The human looks up at him expectantly. And it's with a shudder that he notices the human's double eyes are a stunning green. Like the vux sky after an intense storm. 

"I imagine much the same reason as you, to forget myself."

Cain let's out another amused huff, leaning ever closer to the vux until his warmly intoxicated breath caressed Zex's face. "Thought as much."

"Oh my, did you now?" Zex trilled, arms naturally settling at the human's shoulder and hip before he can think to control himself. 

"… I know full well about your appreciation of the alien form admiral. You kept it no secret." He leans closer, as though moments away from simply plopping into the vux's lap. 

"...I saw no reason to. I knew from the beginning that you would be an open minded individual."

“Is that so? Are you sure you weren’t just hopeful?” His tone was light as he teased the vux. 

My, was the human flirting with him? He doesn’t give him a chance to answer his question, leaning in closer. “Would you like to see where I sleep?”

Admiral Zex was never one to turn down such an offer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reposted because this spent over a year in my drafts and after a re-read I realized it REALLY needed it. Like really, really needed it. It's still not great but it's so much better than it was. 
> 
> Also uhh I have some opinions on Zex, so if you're really set on loving this character as a flawless one I recommend not reading the next chapter as it's through Cain's pov. He, too, has some opinions. 
> 
> After writing this I kinda almost want to write a fix it apology fic where Cain gets to experience Earth for the first time and is happy to share with Zex, who's been formally banished from his own planet. But that's still not completely happy ending, is it...


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's the smut.

Cain takes Zex to his apartment. Though it was more like an oversized closet with a restroom attached. A syreen one. It had all the basics, a mirror, a toilet, and a tub. Just familiar enough that he could use all of it, but was otherwise foreign him. _Weird_ , he had remembered thinking when Talana had first taken him here. Still, he was grateful for all the trouble she had gone through to make sure that his isolation on this planet would be bearable. He suspected he annoyed her, he was so grateful. Even if he could reason that this was hardly the case, it was hard not to imagine from time to time that this was why she rarely visited. 

Well, he had a guest now, laying across from him on his bed in the place he had come to call home these past few years. They had been talking for the past few minutes, exchanging a few in this new environment. Tiredly lounging on his bed seeing as the two of them were buzzed at best. Drunk was a better descriptor. 

Cain snorts as the vux takes notice of the materials of his bed, seemingly unable to help himself from playfully whapping a pillow and then the mattress himself. No, not playfully, he realizes as he sees Zex's single eye narrow in what Cain assumed was focus. Zex was _really_ curious about the textures. Something about watching the vux grab a pillow and run his tendrils over the patterns loosens tensions in his shoulders Cain hadn't realized were there. Not until he became relaxed against the bed frame; watching his curious friend squeeze and push his bed. 

Cain can't hold back a laugh. The pure curiosity about his sleeping space was just so innocent coming from the literal war criminal. The one who'd tried to imprison him during their last encounter. It was almost hard to see this curious vux as the same man who had long since crossed over the border of admiration to nearly deadly obsession. Cain had thought his curiosity had killed him. Obviously, this was not the case. Maybe because he wasn't a cat. That was how the saying went, right? Curiosity killed the cat? 

Cain tries not to think about how he'd never gotten the opportunity to see a cat. What he does think about is the sound that comes from Zex once he comes back to the present time of the apartment. It was cute. 

Zex stared at him, setting a blanket down. "...your abode is interesting. I knew some of the theory surrounding human life and your...peculiar biology, but I have never seen it all so up close. I suppose the curiosity is all too easy to get caught up in, being able to observe it. Touch it" Zex said after a brief pause. 

_Y'know what would be real interesting?_ He thought. _Your clothes, off_. 

Cain bit back the urge to say exactly that. A moment ago, he had been so sure he knew what to say and what to do. Having spoken to the admiral on more than just a few occasions, he had just thought he had an idea what he was doing. It was the alcohol in his system, he decided. He noticed that some alcohol could be stronger on him, especially when it was intended for a much larger uumgah. 

"Huh." Oh, that was dumb. Cain refrains from shaking his head, facepalming, or the great deal of other things he was suddenly hit with the urge to do. Where was the slick captain that got the man to come here in the first place? 

Still back at the bar, apparently. 

Zex, for his part, doesn't seem to mind. Cain doesn't know whether to feel relief or take offense when the man shrugs it off, calling him an endearing little creature. 

(It was funny, how he had managed to entirely forget how Zex could tick him off. Curious, non-judgmental, and humorous were all words he would attribute to the vux. Hell, even cute. Downright infuriating with his internalized superiority complex and xenophobia were some more words he might use.)

For a moment, it's easy for Cain to wonder if he was actually sobering up. He's stopped from taking this train of thought when he processes the appendage creeping up his thigh, and makes no move to stop or dissuade him, but instead allows Zex to push him onto his back with a sigh. 

They stay like this for a few moments. Cain facing the wall, and Zex prodding at his body, tendrils trailing up to his chest, poking and gently squishing, before settling on his face. It's then when he realizes that Zex was on top of him, the bed shifting just a second ago as the vux had gotten closer. Cain lets out a sigh. 

"...hnm." Zex hummed. "Are your lungs still fully efficient like this?"

"Just fine, general."

Zex hums again, caressing his face in a way that makes his face burn hot, and running a tendril through his hair, coiling it around. There is a sudden pull when he tries to pull it away, hair getting caught up in it. Cain isn't able to hold back a soft moan. 

Zex stops, he is holding still and looking down at him. "Are you alright, my dear?"

Cain wriggled underneath his gaze, he'd planned for them to fuck, but it made whatever that was no less embarrassing. "I'm fine..." 

A single eye darts back and forth at him, and it is with a soft laugh that he realizes that Zex can't decide which eye of his to make contact with. This seems to successfully break the tension. 

"Would you like me to do that again?"

He licks his lips. Chapped. And throat dry, his voice a little coarse as he answers. "Yes."

The next tug is deliberate, but gentle. Testing the waters. Cain breathed another sigh, eyes half lidded. He tried to keep them open, blinking harshly in an effort to stay awake. Even knowing that this might be a shot at sleep when he ordinarily couldn't, a small part of him was weary about falling asleep, worried that Zex might have an ulterior motive still. He had tried adding him to his menagerie the last time they had met after all. 

"Harder," Cain eventually grits out. 

The vux does as he asks, still careful not to actually hurt him. It made Cain wonder if this was out of concern for him- or if he was handling him like a doll or some fragile toy of his. A pet. 

He needed another drink. 

"C'mon," Cain says again. "You can do better than that." 

"Hm. What is that human idiom you taught me so long ago, captain?" The next tug is rougher, followed by a caress down his neck. It sends a tingle down Cain's spine. " _Bite me_."

Cain licked his lips, swallowing. "Only if you take off your…" He tried to think of a word for Zex's attire and came up blank. "Clothes." Smooth as always, Cain. 

"Mmm…" Zex hummed thoughtfully. "First let me study your form. I am curious as you well know."

"Alright. Let me just," he awkwardly sits up, trying to reach down to his legs. "Hey Zex, can you move over?"

"Of course, my dear." He gets up from over him, taking a seat at the edge of the bed. He eyes him with a hunger in his eye. Lust, he was guessing, hoping. He'd better be here to bone. 

Cain reaches to remove his boots first, digging out his knife and setting it aside on the nightstand, unable to help but notice that Zex did not take his eye off him for a moment, not even to watch him set down the knife. Something about it makes his chest feel hot and heavy. The boots fall to the floor with a heavy thump that makes him flinch. Thankfully he had no one below him to disturb. 

"You had a weapon this whole time? I had no idea you were armed. Rather impressive and crafty of you." 

Cain flushed at the praise, hand at the back of his neck. "Well, you can't really be too careful here- anyways." He ripped off his coat and shirt, and plopped back onto the bed, arms stretched out. He made a point not to look at the vux, even as he giggled at him. "Have at."

"Oh, I will. I will, my beloved human." 

It isn't long until he is once again settled on top of the human, prodding at and exploring his body with a curiosity that could have so easily passed for just scientific if it weren't for where his tendrils wandered to. His breath hitches as Zex caresses his chest, and a low moan escapes when a tendril explores lower, putting pressure on his clit. 

"...hm. Are you not as excited as I am?"

"Hn?" Cain looked up at him, confused for just a moment. He was being pleasured for the first time in ages, of course he was- oh. Drunk Cain never thought to bring _that_ up. Still drunk Cain could only stare at him, frozen. Like a deer in the headlights, his pops might have said. 

"Forgive me for any inaccuracies my dear, but when human males are aroused, they bloom quite splendidly, do they not?"

"Are you asking… About my dick?" Cain throws back his head and for a moment he just stares at the wall behind him, getting a little lightheaded as the blood rushes to his head. How did someone explain being trans to an allen that seemed to barely understand human biology as it was? Simple was probably the best way to start. "...I was born with a set of parts more associated with the other gender. It happens." 

Zex ran a tendril down Cain's chest, tracing over the scars there- and for a second Cain held in a breath. But Zex never asks. 

"I see," is all he says before he continues as he was just doing before, touching, damn near worshipping his body. 

A tendril cups his ass and gently squeezes as he pulls at his pants, so Cain helps him remove them, and then the underwear afterwards, gasping at the air against his wet cunt. 

"Ah ha! So that is what your reproductive organs look like!"

Strong appendages held Cain's hips in a way that he suspected would soon become a little uncomfortable. Cain squirmed in anticipation. Whatever it was Zex had planned, he'd better get to it. If it came down to it, Cain would beg.

"Yeap." _And I'd like you to plow into them already_ , supplies his unhelpfully drunk consciousness. 

Cain keeps quiet as Zex moves him around, realizing that he was just looking at it, as obviously curious as when he had been exploring his bed. No, more like he was looking at some sort of specimen. He bites his lip. That should not have been so hot. 

"...To be quite honest with you, I do not know what to do from here. I am not well acquainted with your species biology as you well know. Perhaps you might tell me how I should proceed?"

"T-touch me?"

"And how would you like me to do that?" He stares down at him in a way that makes Cain's stomach churn. 

"I really don't mind how, just, please." He squirmed some more to better illustrate his growing need. 

"Put so nicely… I really have no choice." and that was all Zex said before dragging him closer, leaning down, and- 

"Oh, _fuck_." Cain keens, gripping onto his sheets and gritting his teeth as something long and wet ran itself along his clit. "Is that your tongue?" It's hard not to sway his hips forward, chasing the pleasurable sensation even as Zex drew away. He grips the sheets tighter, fighting the urge to pull him back down. "Don't stop-" his next words are garbled, curse words lost half in translation and his lustful haze.

"What did you say a second ago, my dear?"

"Don't stop!!" Cain struggled. Blood going hot under the anticipatory look Zex gave him. 

"Mmm…" Zex makes no move to continue. 

Cain pants. "Zex…" 

"The other thing, my love. You were so polite just a moment ago."

"Please, you insufferable tease."

Zex's eye narrows. "You can be more polite than that." He scoffs. 

"Please?"

"...you know what, my dear?" He caresses his thighs, stopping short of brushing up against his wet cunt. 

"What?"

"Tonight, maybe you _should_ call me Admiral."

Cain refrains from rolling his eyes. Of course Zex would ask something like that. He bites his lip, giving him his most pleading look. "Please, Admiral. I need you to touch me." 

"Good boy."

Cain does snort at that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized I should mention that I made my work anonymous because of the second chapter. My friend knows this account... So I deleted and reposted it like this.


End file.
